The Darker Path
by The Ocean Is Calling
Summary: A horrific incident in a certain Hyuga's life changed the way they lived forever. They became ANBU, they became dangerously efficient in their job earning their own page in other countries' Bingo Books. This incident send them down a darker path than fate originally intended. M for violence/future violence, future swearing, and generally to be safe. Strictly adhering to guidelines.


Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto** , this is purely fanfiction. It has been a while since I have written anything and this is my first step into Naruto Fanfiction so I would greatly appreciate constructive feedback via reviews or favorites. This story with be around 2-3 chapters long. Thank you for reading and I hope you like it.

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A gentle southwesterly wind rustled through the trees blocking the sounds of boots thudding against the branches. A cloaked figure rapidly sprang from tree to tree, their destination mere minutes away. It would feel like a single second compared to the days of running it took the figure to get to their current location. They looked up, the moonlight briefly shining upon the night, illuminating the ANBU mask the person wore, before hiding behind the hulking clouds in the sky. Farther up the mountain stood imposing walls made out of solid rock, protecting the village at the mountain's summit. The air was getting thinner as the ninja darted through the trees, the distance between each jump getting longer as the amount of tress grew less. The lowest level of clouds hung about the village, shifting to allow brief glances of the guards stationed atop the wall before obscuring them.

The trees were becoming more and more sparse and so the ANBU switched to advancing on the ground. Their black, gloved hands peeked out from their billowing black cloak and formed the Tiger seal. They disappeared from sight just as the tree line ended. The ANBU's form flickered as they moved at speeds only Jounin ranked ninja and up could ever hope to see. They flitted from boulder to boulder as they traversed the incline, ever closer to the village. If they remained in plain sight, the guards could still notice the Body Flicker Technique as unnatural shimmers of air. It only required a minimal amount of chakra but the technique would still have to be canceled and the ANBU's chakra suppressed before getting too close to the wall, and in range of any potential sensory type ninjas. They released their technique and relied on their own speed to pass the last one hundred feet to the wall. Thankfully, once close enough the low-lying clouds covered not only the guards but the invader as well.

After that it was all too easy for the Konohagakure Black-Ops member to enter the village. After waiting for the moon to go deep behind the clouds, they scaled the wall. Their chakra undetectable, and the wind blowing against them the foreign ninja vaulted over the rest of the wall and hid in the shadows of a building nearby. A space void of chakra would be suspicious within the village so they released enough to pass as a civilian. Straightening up, the ninja walked briskly toward their target, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. They needed to remain unnoticed by the Kumogakure ANBU that were no doubt patrolling the village. Farther and farther towards the center of Kumogakure the figure walked, the risk of discovery creeping ever greater the closed they got to the Raikage's Tower.

The target lived in a house not far from that building, a safe position for the target and a risky one for the Konoha ANBU operative. Two hundred feet until the house was reached, one hundred feet, fifty feet, twenty-five feet. Target domicile reached. Now for the truly risky part that would end up alerting the patrol teams, utilizing detectable chakra. The ANBU directed chakra to their eyes with a muttered "Byakugan." The final phase of the attack began, only minutes to spare before the Kumo ANBU came and seconds before they noticed the foreign ninja. The Konoha nin shattered one of the ground floor windows with their gloved palm—no genetic evidence must be left behind nor must they be clearly seen—and leapt into the home of their target, scanning the house with a glance and seeing the man they were after running towards the stairs from the second floor to investigate the noise.

The target is a Kumo Jounin, they would be skilled and the Konoha ANBU had little time. They withdrew their standard katana off their back from under the heavy black cloak and rushed to the bottom of the staircase to meet the man. The two ninja met and in that second the Black-Ops member raised their katana to neck height and let the target's velocity separate his head from his body like a hot knife through a stick of butter. Arterial spurt splashed over the ANBU's mask and clothes as the man's body fell to the floor, blood rapidly draining onto the hardwood. With the target dead, the Konoha ninja focused on the surroundings with their Byakugan and saw four large chakra signatures almost to the target's home. The Kumogakure ANBU would be there any minute.

The foreigner pulled a sealing scroll from their kunai pouch and unraveled it. They retrieved the still bleeding head of the man and performed the necessary hand seals to store the proof of the assassination inside. Another glance at the surroundings showed the Byakugan used that they had thirty seconds at the most before being seen. So they bit their thumb through the glove and smeared it on the ground accompanied by a call of "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A bulky cloud of smoke burst into the room followed by a roar. "Take me to Konoha, we have a mission to finish!" The ANBU stated urgently, jumping onto the back of the summon animal, the smoke growing and covering them both. A crash was heard right as the Konoha nin stuck their hand right behind the summon animals Hitai-ate. Channeling chakra into the seal there, both summon and summoner were sucked through space and time back home, the force of the reverse-summoning wiping out the smeared blood on the floor in Kumo. A small pop echoed in the room there as just in time, the foreign ninja escaped.

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The Godaime Hokage, Lady Tsunade, sat at her desk doing her dreaded paperwork and fielding some of the more ridiculous civilian complaints to the place they really belonged in: the trash. Lifting the bottle of Sake to her mouth, she drank the last bit of it. Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her plush chair. ' _It's so quiet right now. I hate paperwork and I'm bored as hell and Shizune confiscated most of my Sake…unless she didn't check the third potted plan from the right, next to the window!'_ The Lady Hokage shot up from her desk, her momentum scattering some papers onto the floor, and went to hopefully get another bottle of Sake from her "Super Secret Stash".

Just as her hands wrapped around the pot, copious amounts of smoke and a roar suddenly appeared in her office. On reflex she flung the object in her hands at the intrusion. The blood soaked ANBU ducked from atop their summon, as if they had done it way too many times.

"What have I told you about using the doors damn it!" Tsunade snarled at the to beings and chucked another object at them, this time a kunai. Again the ANBU ducked and this time slid off their summon, deactivating their Byakugan, and kneeling on the floor waiting to be asked to speak. "And you," she pointed at the summon animal, "must you always announce your presence like that every single time?" Tsunade slumped back into her chair and growled at the two figures in her office, all of the smoke finally disappearing. "Fine then. ANBU Lion, report!" She demanded.

The Black-Ops member rose and held out the scroll containing the severed head of the target to the Hokage. "The mission was a success, I left no genetic evidence behind and thanks to Reo I am certain that the enemy shinobi were not able to identify us or where we came from. The object requested is sealed in the scroll and ready to be delivered to the client." The ninja cited in a monotone voice, not looking forward to seeing the client. Reo the summon rubbed his head against his summoner's leg as he said "Good luck with it" in a voice that sounded like thunder rolling across the sky before reverse-summoning himself back to his realm.

Tsunade sighed in relief at his disappearance. "I am the Godaime Hokage, I can level a mountain by punching it and after almost three years your giant lion summon still intimidates me to this day." She shot a look at her ANBU as if it were their fault Reo was so imposing. "Your oral report is satisfactory, remember to hand in your written report in a few days. You are dismissed, please use the door this time." A tired smile spread across the Hokage's face. The ANBU bowed and turned to take their leave. Their hand rested upon the doorknob just as Tsunade's voice whispered out to them "I want you to tell him. This has gone on too long and now that it is over he can finally know. As your Hokage I am ordering you to reveal identity to the client." The ANBU tensed and gripped the round knob hard, their entire body rigid with anger. "It is for your own good you know, it has to come out sometime." The Godaime spoke gently. The elite ninja gave a nod of their head and headed out the door. After they left the Godaime sighed and looked at the wreckage of her office, noting there was no bottle, shattered or intact, mingled in the spilled soil and broken pottery. "All of my ninja are brats these days. I can't wait to retire." Her gaze finally noticed the paperwork scattered over the desk and floor, and she groaned, "I just want some damn Sake!"

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The elite ninja walked through the empty streets of Konoha, taking their time to push the meeting between them and the client back further. It was good that it was near three in the morning, if any civilian saw a blood soaked ANBU slowly wandering the streets they would freak out.

For fifteen minutes in near complete silence, they ambled down the streets of their village. Raccoons, opossums, and other nocturnal pests scattered fearfully out of the human's way, weary of the scent of blood. The human sighed, looking up at their destination right in front of them, the Hyuga Clan Compound. Not bothering with the gate, they jumped over it whilst nodding at the two Hyuga sentries guarding the entrance. They made their way through the winding path to the Head House on the Main Branch side of the compound. The mission client would be waiting in there for the delivery.

The ninja took a deep breath and stepped up to the sliding doors and slowly exhaled, opening them and stepping inside the house. Indeed the client was waiting in the receiving room. The ANBU slid the door closed behind them and offered a deep bow to the man who had payed for the mission, Hiashi Hyuga.

"Rise ANBU-san. I trust you have the object I requested?" He asked the ninja standing before him. The ANBU rose back to a stiff, upright position, their white mask with purple swirling paint forming the face of a lion stared back at the man. Their eyes remained shut, wanting not to give the man many clues as to who they were before they were ready to reveal themselves. They presented the scroll containing the severed head of the Kumogakure Jounin to Hiashi who in turn took it from their gloved hands and released the scroll over an open, thick, wooden box painted with seals. The head tumbled out into its new container with a thump. Hiashi grabbed the head by its hair to look at the face and confirm it was whom he ordered assassinated. "You have most definitely succeeded ANBU-san. Your payment will be with Lady Tsunade tomorrow. I am pleased that this criminal has finally been brought to justice. Lady Tsunade has already sent a messenger slug to me to inform me of her decision to have you reveal yourself to me. I would like to show you my appreciation properly ANBU-san, as the ninja who finally completed the task my worthless daughter could not do.

This was probably the most Hiashi had ever spoken in a single instance. The ANBU tensed and nodded in consent. There was no more putting it off. They opened their eyes and Hiashi's eyebrows raised nearly imperceptibly to note his surprise at an ANBU Hyuga, he thought there were only two but this cloaked figure made three. Their hand lifted to remove their mask, hesitating just long enough to take another calming breath before slowly, agonizingly slowly, removing that which kept their identity a secret.

This time Hiashi audibly gasped, though still at an exceedingly low volume, unable to contain his surprise. "It's you! This is where you have been for the past three years? I throw you out and you go crawling to ANBU? They must have lowered their standards of acceptance if you got in." Hiashi overcame his initial shock at seeing the identity of the ANBU in front of them. His lip rose in a snarl and his brow set into a deep glare as he bit out the words to the ninja before him.

They were shaking, not from fear but from rising fury. ' _How dare he, even after all this time!'_ the figure thought. "I have been gone all this time training, for the specific reason of getting stronger and completing this task and all you can do is insult me? I am Hinata! Ex-heiress of the Hyuga Clan of Konoha, ANBU Captain and you dare insult me?" She raised her voice at the man she had not spoken to in years. Her stutter had disappeared long ago, confidence now oozed from every pore of one of Konoha's most dangerous Kunoichi. Hiashi had since schooled his features back into a blank slate, giving nothing away but his eyes could not fully hide the man's anger at his banished daughter.

"Get out. Get out of the Hyuga Compound. You are not welcome here, nor will you ever be." His voice betrayed nothing, monotone just as Hinata remembered from her childhood. She gave a slight incline at her head, none of the politeness from before left in her stance as she resisted the temptation to drive her Katana through his head.

She turned and opened the door to exit her past home before she looked back at the man who had driven her from everything she had known "I did it for her, not for you." Hiashi stiffened slightly at the comment Hinata could not resist throwing at him. "I did it for Hanabi." With her final words said she closed the door and jumped away from the compound. She donned her mask, hiding the angry tears threatening to spill down her cheeks as she made her way over the rooftops to the apartments near the Hokage's Mansion. She took care to remain unnoticed as she entered the apartment complex and slipped into her home. Her mind was on one person and one person only. ' _Oh Hanabi…I miss you'_ She thought before collapsing on her couch, physically exhausted by the mission and mentally drained from resurfacing emotions long buried. ' _This all could have been avoided if I had just been stronger all that time ago sister, if only I could have protected you.'_

Hinata laid on her back, removing her mask again and setting it on an end table nearby. Her thoughts drifted to the man she had killed tonight, Masashi Himura. The last time she had seen his face was nearly three years ago. The last time she had seen him he was sliding a kunai across Hanabi's neck. The last time she had seen his wretched face, was when he murdered her little sister.

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 **Author's Note** : Was it good? Was it bad? Favorite, Review, both? Let me know what you think of this story, I would be greatly appreciative. *I know I have issues with adverbs and tenses so if you spot any errors I would be glad to fix them!


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